An outspoken communist lawmaker in Russia has said in an interview on state television that gay people are “sick” and need to be “cured” of their homosexuality. Russia banned displays of “homosexual propaganda” to minors in 2013, while courts regularly ban gay pride events and public polls show surging anti-LGBT sentiment. In a late Tuesday…
Blessing Obuson thought Russia’s football World Cup would be an opportunity to find a job and flew into Moscow from Nigeria last June on a fan ID. Instead, she found herself forced to work as a prostitute. Fan IDs allowed visa-free entry to World Cup supporters with match tickets, but did not confer the right…
Fewer than 100 Russian billionaires now have a combined wealth that is greater than the entire population’s savings, according to figures published by Forbes. Russia is regularly named in international ratings as one of the most unequal of the world’s major economies, with an estimated 89 percent of the country’s wealth owned by its richest 10…
Russia’s central bank will not need to raise interest rates further if it considers the impact of its two rate increases last year to be enough, its monetary policy chief said. The central bank raised rates twice in the second half of 2018 to limit inflation, which was being fed by a weaker rouble, rising…
A British destroyer is shadowing a Russian naval task group as it passes the English coast, the Ministry of Defense said on Wednesday. HMS Defender was called upon to sail over the weekend and keep watch on the frigate Admiral Gorshkov and three auxiliary ships as they neared U.K. territorial waters off Scotland. It will…
Russia is ready to take part in Bulgaria’s Belene nuclear power plant project if such a possibility arises, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said on Wednesday. “We have the opportunity to implement this project, no less than other countries,” Medvedev says.
Russian lawmakers have passed a bill banning hostels in residential buildings, a measure that risks severely limiting affordable accommodation options for travelers. Hoteliers warn that the ban could shutter up to 40 percent of hostels in Moscow and 80 percent in St. Petersburg and result in 16 billion rubles ($243 million) of losses in yearly…
An investigation into a Russian money laundering network that funneled billions of dollars abroad sent shockwaves through Europe this week but was largely ignored by Russian officials and state media. The report released by the Organized Crime and Corruption Project (OCCRP) Monday said that a network of over 70 offshore companies had funnelled $4.6 billion…
The Russian accounts of Venezuelan companies, including state oil firm PDVSA, will move to the Russian Financial Corporation Bank (Rusfincorp), which is sanctioned by the United States, the RIA news agency reported on Wednesday. Reuters reported last month that Russian lender Gazprombank had decided to freeze the accounts of PDVSA and halted transactions with the…
The parents of kindergarteners in Moscow have sued the firm of a catering magnate with ties to the Russian president and military over a dysentery outbreak among dozens of children. Officials confirmed some 130 cases of food poisoning among kindergarteners in southeastern Moscow in December, leading parents to file a class-action lawsuit against a catering…
Belarus will seek better ties with the West even though this provokes “hysterics” from its traditional ally Russia, long-serving President Alexander Lukashenko said on Tuesday, a day after lifting a cap of five U.S. diplomats in his country. Belarus is trying to improve ties with the West after a number of disputes with Moscow, which…
Eight Russian billionaires have been named among the 100 richest people in the world, according to new rankings published by Forbes on Tuesday. The richest Russian on the list was Leonid Mikhelson, the CEO of the Novatek gas giant, who came in 32nd place overall with an estimated net worth of $24 billion. Other Russians…
Moscow will deploy new missiles with a strike range over the entirety of Europe if the United States puts missiles on the continent, Russia’s ambassador to the U.S. warned Monday. Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree on Monday suspending Russia‘s participation in the Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty with the United States, citing U.S.…
U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday extended sanctions against Russia by another year, prolonging punitive measures that were first imposed over Moscow’s annexation of Crimea in 2014. The U.S. imposed travel bans and asset freezes against individuals involved in the seizure of the Ukrainian peninsula under President Barack Obama in March 2014. The sanctions have…
Two activists were detained for throwing flowers and shouting abuse near Stalin’s statue on Moscow’s Red Square on Tuesday during an event commemorating the Soviet dictator’s death. Hundreds of Communists mark the anniversary of Stalin’s death every year on March 5, laying flowers and wreaths alongside his grave in central Moscow. Contemporary attitudes in Russia…
Three U.S. House of Representatives committees asked the White House and State Department on Monday for details on President Donald Trump’s talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin, seeking to interview translators and other staff involved in their conversations. The House Intelligence, Foreign Affairs and Government Oversight committees said in a statement they wrote to acting…
Around 30 percent of the Russian population will practice Islam within the next 15 years, Russia’s grand mufti has predicted, citing demographic trends. Russia’s Muslim-majority regions, including republics in the North Caucasus and the republic of Tatarstan, are known to have the highest birth rates in the country, reflecting similar trends worldwide. Various estimates place…
When anti-government protests erupted on Russia’s side of the Caucasus Mountains in October, authorities did something they’d never done before: cut mobile internet service to an entire geographical area. For almost two weeks, tens of thousands of mainly Muslim Russians were prevented from accessing social media sites and sharing videos through their smartphones. Unlike China,…
The head of a research unit at Russia’s Roscosmos space agency, Stanislav Zharkov, has been fired after comparing the residents of lower-income housing to “livestock” on Facebook. “What category of Khrushevka [Soviet-era buildings] livestock do you belong to: Do you drink, take drugs, throw trash in the courtyard, yell at night – or all of…
President Vladimir Putin has signed a decree suspending Russia‘s participation in the Cold War-era Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces Treaty with the United States, the Kremlin said on Monday. Russia announced last month it was suspending the treaty after the United States said it would withdraw because of violations by Moscow. Russia denies flouting the accord and has accused Washington of…
On March 4, 2018, former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia were found unconscious on a park bench in southern England. After an investigation, British authorities said the two had been exposed to a military-grade nerve agent in an attempted murder carried out by agents of Russia’s GRU military intelligence agency — a…
Russia’s top telecom operators are selling the location data of their clients for millions of dollars to Moscow’s City Hall, the Vedomosti business daily has reported. The Russian capital already fields one of the world’s largest facial-recognition systems, with 174,000 surveillance cameras expected to enter into operation this year. Meanwhile, new anti-terror legislation that entered…
Russia will do all possible to prevent a U.S. military intervention in Venezuela, the state-run TASS news agency quoted the speaker of Russia‘s upper house of parliament as saying on Sunday. “We are very much concerned that the U.S. could carry out any provocations to shed blood, to find a cause and reasons for an intervention in…
Zhores Alferov, the 2000 Nobel Prize winner in physics and a member of Russia‘s parliament, has died aged 88 in St. Petersburg, the Russian Communist party said on Saturday. Alferov shared the nearly $1 million award, which recognized his research work in the 1970s in information technology which paved the way for computers, CD players and mobile…
A Russian court has sentenced five alleged Islamic State members this week over a plot to attack the French Embassy in Moscow, state media have reported. The fighters were detained in Russia’s North Caucasus republic of Ingushetia two years ago on suspicion of plotting a New Year’s Day attack on the embassy in 2017. A…
Russia has lost an estimated 50 billion rubles ($760 million) in potential gun and ammo sales since international sanctions sealed off the U.S. market in 2014, the state-owned Rostec corporation has said. Russia’s estimated 4.5 million gun owners with 7.3 million registered small arms pale in comparison with the nearly 400 million civilian-owned firearms in…
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has ordered state oil company PDVSA’s office in Lisbon to be relocated to Moscow, Vice President Delcy Rodriguez said on Friday, a move she said was designed to help safeguard her country’s assets. Moscow has backed Maduro in the face of a political challenge from opposition leader Juan Guaido, who declared…
Russia’s foreign minister Sergei Lavrov said on Friday that Russia was helping Venezuela with supplies of wheat, but did not elaborate. He made the comment at a joint news conference with Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodriguez, who was visiting Moscow. Russia has supplied 64,100 tons of wheat to Venezuela so far in the 2018/19 marketing…
Pakistan’s foreign minister has said his country is willing to accept Russia’s offer to mediate between Pakistan and India, days after a military conflict erupted between the South Asian nuclear powers. India and Pakistan shot down each other’s fighter jets on Wednesday, a day after Indian warplanes struck inside Pakistan for the first time since…
A one-time Russian opposition activist has taken a job at the Kremlin-run RT television channel, stirring heated debate among former colleagues and observers. Once described as the face of Russia’s opposition, Maria Baronova had recently headed the Moscow branch of the Open Russia pro-democracy movement. In 2012, she was detained and charged over her role…
Russian authorities have ordered the release of nearly 100 whales held captive in cages in Russia’s Far East in a case that has drawn the ire of President Vladimir Putin, the public and international film stars, TASS news agency said on Thursday. Images of the whales, kept in cramped enclosures in a bay near the Sea of Japan…
Russia failed on Thursday in a bid for the United Nations Security Council to adopt a resolution that expressed support for a political solution in Venezuela and backed the Maduro government as the primary coordinator of international help. The Russian text only received four votes in favor. Four countries abstained and the rest of the 15-member council…
This week on From Russia With News, we speak with New York Times journalist Andrew Kramer about the sentencing of two Russian cyber-security experts this week, handed decades behind bars for treason. We’ll also talk to veteran journalist Artemy Troitsky about the life and legacy of Igor Malashenko, the media executive and political consultant found…
Russia’s population has suffered more from abortion than it did from its losses during World War II, a Russian Orthodox official in charge of family affairs has said. Russia legalized abortion in 1955 and has the second-highest abortion rate in the world after China. While Russia’s anti-abortion movement has largely failed to change the law,…
A Russian court on Thursday ruled that prominent U.S. investor Michael Calvey should remain in custody pending trial, rejecting his appeal to be released on bail or moved to house arrest. Calvey, a founder of Baring Vostok Capital Partners, was detained earlier this month along with three other executives from his private equity group after…
The nephew of top Kremlin propagandist Dmitry Kiselyov was sentenced by a German court for planning to take part in military activities in eastern Ukraine, Russian media reported Thursday. The charges against German citizen Sergei Kiselyov, 48, were reportedly based on an interview that his pundit uncle gave in 2016, in which he said that…
Russia is ready to mediate between India and Pakistan to try to calm tensions between the two nuclear powers, Russian government officials said on Thursday, warning of the risk of further clashes between the two countries. Moscow made the offer after Pakistan said it was considering returning a captured Indian pilot and as U.S. President…
Police in Moscow raided the office of the Open Russia political movement and detained one person late on Wednesday after the organization aired a live feed with founder and exiled oligarch Mikhail Khodorkovsky. Russia blacklisted the pro-democracy NGO in 2017 as an “undesirable organization,” a label that banned its activities and places its employees at…
The Kremlin on Thursday dismissed talk of potential U.S. sanctions targeting President Vladimir Putin’s wealth and called draft sanctions legislation an example of anti-Russian sentiment that should not be taken seriously. A group of U.S. lawmakers have proposed sanctions legislation targeting Russia that, among other things, would require the director of U.S. National Intelligence to…
Americans’ negative views of Russia have reached levels not seen since the fall of the Soviet Union, according to a new survey released by the Gallup pollster Wednesday. Relations between the two countries have plummeted to Cold War-era levels after Russia annexed the Crimean peninsula from Ukraine in 2014 and was accused of interfering in…
Two U.S. congresswomen have introduced legislation seeking to instruct the American intelligence community to disclose Russian President Vladimir Putin’s finances and report on Kremlin-linked corruption. Critics have accused the Russian leader of amassing a fortune during his 18 years in power as either president or prime minister. Official figures say Putin’s income between 2011 and 2016…
The story of 30-year-old Fatima Musabayeva, a Kazakh survivor of modern-day slavery, appears to have a happy ending. Of sorts. Eight years after escaping years of exploitation, Fatima lives in her own freshly remodelled apartment, raises a son and runs a small business. She went a long way to get where she is now. In…
Moscow’s facial-recognition surveillance cameras are now being deployed by collectors to track down debtors, the city’s chief bailiff told state media on Wednesday. The Russian capital claims one of the world’s largest facial-recognition systems, with 174,000 closed-circuit TV (CCTV) cameras expected to be in operation this year. In 2018, personal loans in Russia grew by…
Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodriguez will hold talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Moscow on Friday, the state-run RIA news agency reported, the latest in a flurry of visits by Venezuelan politicians to staunch ally Russia. Moscow has backed socialist President Nicolas Maduro in the face of a challenge from opposition leader Juan Guaido who…
Russia’s aviation authority has told airlines to avoid flying over India and Pakistan after at least two military planes were shot down in the area, Russian media have reported. India and Pakistan shot down each other’s fighter jets on Wednesday, a day after Indian warplanes struck inside Pakistan for the first time since a war…
Special Counsel Robert Mueller and other U.S. prosecutors have been investigating whether President Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign conspired with Russia. Trump and Moscow have denied any collusion. U.S. intelligence agencies have concluded Russia interfered in the presidential election with a campaign of hacking and propaganda to sow discord in the United States and damage the…
Russia will reinforce its western, eastern and southern flanks this year in response to increased Western military exercises near its border, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu announced on Wednesday. Moscow has bolstered its military capabilities since its relations with the United States and the NATO military alliance deteriorated over Russia’s annexation of Crimea. Speaking at…
A business class jet cascaded off a runway at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport, the state-run RIA Novosti news agency reported Tuesday. Surveillance footage posted online shows the plane skidding off the runway’s asphalt and onto the surrounding airfield after landing. The three passengers and three members of crew on board the flight traveling from Baku were…
The Kremlin said on Wednesday that an email it had received from an adviser to then U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump in January 2016 about a Moscow real estate project had made no mention of Trump’s personal interest in the project. The Kremlin was speaking before Michael Cohen, Trump’s former lawyer, testifies before a House…
The Kremlin on Wednesday said that U.S. territory was constantly being used to launch cyber attacks against Russia, but said it was unable to confirm a U.S. media report that the U.S. military had disrupted the internet access of a Russian troll farm. The Washington Post reported on Tuesday that the U.S. military had disrupted the internet…
Renowned Russian media executive and political consultant Igor Malashenko is believed to have committed suicide in Spain, Russian state media cited a Spanish court as saying. Malashenko’s former colleagues and family said he had taken his own life at age 64 on Monday, but no official sources have yet confirmed the reports. “Everything shows” that…
Leonardo DiCaprio has joined Pamela Anderson this week in calling on Russia to release dozens of orcas and belugas held in a so-called “whale jail” in the country’s Far East. Novaya Gazeta reported in late 2018 that about 100 Orcas and Belugas are being held in small temporary enclosures in a bay near the city of…
A suspected Russian spy has been arrested in Stockholm, the Swedish Security Police said on Wednesday. The suspect, who was arrested late Tuesday, is believed to have been engaged in criminal activity since at least 2017, the Security Police said. They declined to provide either a name or a gender for the suspect. “It is a…
Russia and Syria issued a joint statement on Wednesday calling on U.S. forces to leave Syria and to allow people inside a refugee camp in the southeast of the country to be evacuated by Russian and Syrian forces. The statement, released by Russia’s Defense Ministry, said Russian and Syrian forces had prepared buses to relocate…
Russia saw a 10 percent surge in international tourist arrivals last year, dominated by visitors from China, Germany and South Korea, state media cited the authorities as saying. Russia has introduced visa-free travel for Chinese tour groups and hired Chinese-speaking staff at airports and train stations to accommodate growing tourist numbers from the country of…
At least eight people, including three children, have been killed in a house fire in the Siberian region of Kemerovo, one year after a deadly fire there claimed scores of lives and sparked mass safety inspections. Sixty people, many of them children, died in the Siberian city of Kemerovo in March 2018 after the Winter…
The U.S. military disrupted the internet access of a Russian troll farm accused of trying to influence American voters on Nov. 6, 2018, the day of the congressional elections, The Washington Post reported on Tuesday. The U.S. Cyber Command strike targeted the Internet Research Agency in the Russian port city of St. Petersburg, the Post…
The U.S. Army estimates the Russian army’s military capabilities will peak in 2028, closely followed by the Chinese around 2030, giving the United States almost a decade to prepare for those threats, a senior Pentagon official said in an interview on Monday. The top civilian at the U.S. Army, Secretary Mark Esper, said the Army…
A federal judge on Tuesday agreed to delay the sentencing of Maria Butina, who has admitted to working as a Russian agent to infiltrate a gun rights group and make inroads with U.S. conservative activists and Republicans, at the request of a prosecutor who cited her ongoing cooperation. Butina, 30, has been in custody since…
The head of a Russian vodka manufacturer has told The Moscow Times he was shocked to hear Dutch customs had intercepted a shipment of his goods on suspicion of it being bound for North Korea’s top brass. Early on Tuesday, the Dutch newspaper Algemeen Dagblad (AD) reported that customs officials in the Dutch port city…